Dina Cieplinski grew up in Eastmoor and still lives there, on the same street as her parents and
sister.

The 34-year-old says she wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

"The people are warm and friendly. It's very easy to get around. It's inviting," said
Cieplinski, who lives with her husband, Eli, 36, and their three young children.

Her street, S. Gould Road, borders Bexley. In fact, visitors often mistake Eastmoor, with its
distinctive homes, expansive lawns and tree-lined streets, as part of the suburb.

But Eastmoor is a Columbus neighborhood sandwiched between Bexley and Whitehall. It's one of
those well-kept, charming areas that attracts young families as well as those who yearn to return
home.

Ellen Peterson, 63, grew up in Eastmoor. After living in Bexley for 17 years, she and her
husband, Robert, moved back in 1994.

"We moved a whopping five minutes away from where we are now," she said. "People have always
been proud of their homes. We have a lot of pretty homes in Eastmoor."

In fact, Eastmoor's history as a residential neighborhood began as quite the upscale
development.

In the 1920s, Columbus lawyer Charles Johnson bought a polo field bordered by Broad Street,
James Road, Fair Avenue and Broadleigh Road. Houses with horse barns were built around the field.
Some of those original houses still stand on Eastmoor Boulevard.

Bernard Boiston, who is a lawyer, has lived in one of them since 1979. Boiston, a native of the
Loire Valley region of France, knew nothing of the area's equestrian history until he moved in and
looked at the old title documents.

His 2,600-square-foot Tudor-style house, which was built in 1924, includes some sturdy fixtures.
Boiston said one commode has a date on the tank that indicates that it was installed during the
decade the house went up.

"It certainly has got a lot of mileage, I can tell you that," said Boiston, who still
practices law at age 70 in an office that is a little more than 2 miles away on E. Broad
Street.

Larger houses continued to go up near the polo field through the 1930s. After World War II, the
neighborhood experienced a housing explosion, and smaller Cape Cod and stucco homes quickly were
built to accommodate growing families.

Herb Talabere lives in one of those houses, a Broadleigh Road ranch built in 1956.

Like the Petersons, Talabere and his wife, Laurel, used to live in Bexley. They moved to
Eastmoor in 2003. They said they wanted to reduce their living expenses.

"It's a Bexley-like neighborhood without Bexley taxes," said Mr. Talabere, 73, a retired federal
worker and the president of the Eastmoor Civic Association and Blockwatch.

Eastmoor recently received a $4,000 neighborhood partnership grant through the United Way of
Central Ohio for two stone markers to be placed at entryways to the area.

"It just helps to define us," Mr. Talabere said.

The association's eastern border is James Road. But Eastmoor Academy, a longtime anchor
for the area, is east of James Road.

That part of the neighborhood is more modest and features more rental properties.

Eastmoor is home to Columbus City Councilwoman Priscilla Tyson, 56, an Eastmoor High School
graduate who said she always liked the "community feel" there.

For example, the neighborhood hosts an annual picnic on the former polo field, now called
Virginia Lee Circle Park, with music, games and ice cream.

Mrs. Cieplinski said she also likes the diversity of the area: white and black, Catholic and
Jewish, old and young.

Many neighborhood children attend nearby St. Catharine School. Three synagogues are also
nearby.

Over the winter, Mrs. Cieplinski, the civic association's vice president, and her husband, Eli,
who runs a landscaping business, worked with a local business to remove mountains of snow from
sidewalks so residents could walk to synagogue.

She works nearby as the director of the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School at the Jewish
Community Center, a program that offers a course on Jewish history, ethics and other topics.

Mrs. Peterson said she is sure the neighborhood will continue to draw residents like the
Cieplinskis.

"A lot of houses have turned over in recent years ... a lot of young families," she said.
"It's something that says a lot for Eastmoor."